Head injuries are of great recent concern in contact sports such as football. Concussions suffered by football athletes have resulted in long-term brain damage and even occasionally death. It has been realized that a greater level of head protection is necessary to protect athletes from such injuries.
Traditional helmets, and in particular sports helmets, are designed with a compromise between durability and protection. Since athletes infrequently replace sports helmets, the helmets are traditionally designed to continuously absorb numerous impacts without losing their protective qualities.
Sports helmets, such as football helmets, are customarily constructed with an outer hard shell layer, various shock absorption layers, and an inner padded layer that contacts an athlete's head. The outer hard shell layer does not easily deform, thus allowing the helmet to maintain its structure despite repeated hits. Thus, the helmet may often be used for years without replacement. However, because of the trade-off in durability, the outer hard shell layer suffers in its abilities to absorb and disperse the force from an impact.
Bicycle helmets, on the other hand, are designed differently from sports helmets. Since head impacts are not a common occurrence when bicycling, bicycle helmets are designed to deform on impact and spread the force of an impact across a larger area, thus providing a greater level of protection. However, upon a significant impact, a bicycle helmet is permanently damaged and loses its protective functions. Thus, a damaged bicycle helmet cannot be re-used and must be replaced.
As such, a need exists in the field of sports helmets for a helmet which provides improved protection for head impacts, using more absorbent materials. However, frequent replacement of such a football helmet may be prohibitively expensive for many athletes.
Accordingly, a need exists in the field of sports helmets for a cost-effective helmet that provides improved protection for head impacts through the use of more force absorbent and dispersive materials.